Bombs bursting in air

摘要

For British onlookers this week's ferocious rows over plans to extend America's fledgling anti-ballistic missile shield to Europe have seemed a blast from the cold-war past. Vladimir Putin, Russia's president, said America would trigger an "inevitable arms race" if it deployed interceptors in Europe to knock ballistic missiles out of the sky. A senior Russian general rumbled that Russian missiles would target any interceptors in eastern Europe. Poland's prime minister told his people that Russia was trying to "scare" them. The Czech foreign minister (a prince with a splendid moustache) complained of Russian "blackmail".